Ontario to launch inquiry into spending by former Liberal government

TORONTO — Ontario’s new Progressive Conservative government is expected to announce details of an inquiry into the previous Liberal government’s spending.

The Canadian Press has learned that Premier Doug Ford will announce the Commission of Inquiry that will look at the provincial deficit and come up with ways to address it.

The premier has pledged that the inquiry would build on the work of the province’s auditor general, Bonnie Lysyk, who has been critical of government accounting standards that she said understate its deficits by billions.

“What we are witnessing is a betrayal of the public trust,” Ford said of the Liberal government’s books in April, when he first promised the inquiry.

“We go in there, we’re going to find additional waste, we’re going to find areas that we can drive efficiencies.”

Ford is expected to name the person who will head the three-member commission.

He is also expected today to issue a request for proposals for a value-for-money audit of the government books.

Ford will make the announcements this afternoon with Finance Minister Vic Fedeli and Treasury Board President Peter Bethlenfalvy.

In April, Lysyk said the previous Liberal government’s deficit projections were off by 75 per cent for 2018-2019, with that jumping to 92 per cent for 2020-2021.

That means the $6.7 billion deficit projected by the government for 2018-2019 will instead be $11.7 billion, Lysyk said, and the projected $6.5 billion for 2020-2021 will actually be $12.5 billion.

The former Liberal government attributed the discrepancy to an accounting dispute related to calculations surrounding its Fair Hydro Plan and pension expenses.

Ford has said he trusts the auditor general’s report but does not believe it gives a complete picture of government spending and accounting practices. He has not said how much the inquiry he has promised would cost.

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10 comments on “Ontario to launch inquiry into spending by former Liberal government”

” look at the provincial deficit and come up with ways to address it”? Well, of course. The devil will be in the details on that one.

“an inquiry into the previous Liberal government’s spending”. Well, let’s think about that one for a second (OMG–think first–how radical!) If it’s to identify practices etc. that need to be changed, objectively, through professional advice, applicable to all present and future governments, OK. If it’s to engage in a Blame Game against the previous government, why?

Under our current legislation, federal, provincial, territorial, once the perpetrators, however one evaluates them, have left the building, no matter how egregious their behaviours and the resulting damage,

we
have
no
recourse

They can’t be charged. They can’t be penalized. They can’t even be sanctioned. Some of them get away with lack of responsibility of such a scope that it looks very much like manslaughter through criminal negligence, and
there
are
no
consequences
for them.

Given the size of the Ontario budget, the idea that you could do more than a cursory look and write a report in about 6 weeks is sort of laughable.

It kind of strikes me as an idea that’s been tamped down and then put to an unrealistic deadline by someone with little understanding of government much less general reality.

The idea of figuring out what the real books are at is not new. But is the witch hunt aspect and the silly deadline is the tone that Ontarians can expect from a former Toronto councillor who proposed a ferris wheel, a monorail, a mega-mall and boat-in hotel for Toronto’s waterfront?

It’s the same Doug Ford that we watched on cpac – shouting and storming around Toronto council.

The interesting part of this will be once the inquiry gets underway, will Wynne see the writing on the wall and resign in fear of being prosecut d for her and her liberal parties misuse of taxpayer dollars.
Go Doug Go.